Monday, 18 June 2012
Learning about Learning
I think the world is finally learning about learning. I am increasingly talking to people who understand what I am saying. It has dawned on people that an academic approach to a practical subject will mean that people are not qualified to practice the subject - no matter how good their degree. Am I happy - NO! Why not? Well because now everyone gets it and I have no machine to rage against. And even though they now get it they still think that the same institutions are going to provide the answers. When will the world learn that small training companies are the place for innovation and implementation and not huge big universities?
Yesterday I spoke to a leading educator in Dentistry - now to be a dentist one should imagine that you will have lots of practice at filings - right? Wrong! Now some people qualify having done only one - eeeeeeeeek.
Nurses now have degrees - but does this mean that they now feel too qualified to wash an elderly bottom? Do they have to do as much of these day to day caring things in order to qualify - well I am not really sure. Perhaps some of you have the answer.
At my Digital Business we have just opened our doors to the local college - we are taking students in to work alongside our team - in a sort of apprenticeship. It’s an experiment - there are no contracts we are just trying it out to see if it will work and if it helps the students are more able to make a successful career out of their computer science courses. I think this is an inspired idea but what about all the web designers and app designers who are not in my team and therefore not benefiting from the lower cost workers - hmmmm - am I being anticompetitive by being able to provide these services at a lower rate? Or am I encouraging businesses in to the digital age that would not be able to afford the support of a professional web designer. In reality it should be a win win - we will see.
Monday, 11 July 2011
Art for Arts Sake
We have always had a strong connection with the arts due to my original Theatre career. When we originally started Hemingway Corporation we also had an off shoot called Hemingway Productions. Hemingway Corp used Hemingway Productions to supply actors for role play and simulation excercises and the profit went in to a pot to allow Hemingway Productions to put on plays at the Fringe in Edinburgh. With children arriving and other home comittments Hemingway Productions fell by the wayside. But I have decided to revive it!
Our next exhibition at the Gallery with be called 'Perfomance'. It opens on the 8th of August, artists are bringing work that compliments that theme - all 2D work. At the end of the exhibition,from the 25th to the 30th of August we will be hosting our own 'fringe' festival. During the day there will be story tellers, rehearsals for the Weston Soap Opera, magicians and workshops and the evenings will begin with a recording of our soap opera for the Radio followed by a short one act play then there will be music and comedy until 10.00pm every night.
Any one who wants to take part should contact me - and if anyone is interested in helping me revive Hemingway Productions they should also get in touch. I have been asked to create a simulation event for the 11th of November so there may be an opportunity to use Hemingway Productions at that. Sounds like a plan is coming together.
Our next exhibition at the Gallery with be called 'Perfomance'. It opens on the 8th of August, artists are bringing work that compliments that theme - all 2D work. At the end of the exhibition,from the 25th to the 30th of August we will be hosting our own 'fringe' festival. During the day there will be story tellers, rehearsals for the Weston Soap Opera, magicians and workshops and the evenings will begin with a recording of our soap opera for the Radio followed by a short one act play then there will be music and comedy until 10.00pm every night.
Any one who wants to take part should contact me - and if anyone is interested in helping me revive Hemingway Productions they should also get in touch. I have been asked to create a simulation event for the 11th of November so there may be an opportunity to use Hemingway Productions at that. Sounds like a plan is coming together.
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Our new Gallery at my new business DPS
The Gallery – sponsored by a forward thinking local business - opened its doors on Friday 10th June and was inaugurated by John Penrose MP. This is a unique opportunity for artists from the area and beyond. The Gallery – managed by a committed group of artists - will be the largest in North Somerset and will provide a spacious area for artists and makers to display their work in a wonderful and spacious environment right in the centre of Weston-s-Mare.
The first exhibition is showing the inspiring and unique work of 22 local artists – paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures – and will last until 6th August. It is open everyday from 11 – 5pm except Sundays. The Gallery is situated above Digital Photo Studio, 3 Locking Rd Weston-s-Mare BS23 3BY (opposite Tesco). For more information about the Gallery contact Kirsten Hemingway
Email: khemingway@hemingwaycorp.com or telephone 01934 626616
Digital Photo Studio can scan your favourite photographs and put them on to a disk for you ready for use on line or in any digital media
.
For those of you interested in a bit of history the building was originally Locking Road Methodist Church
With thanks to Cllr John Crockford-Hawley for the image above.
.
Artist Profile
MICHAEL RUMMINGS
Currently showing at The Gallery in Weston-s-Mare
3 Locking Rd, BS23 3BY
Open daily 11–5pm except Sundays
T: 01934 627809
M: 07866621338
E: gillrummings@talktalk.net
“My favourite thing is sketching in situ, portraying townscape or landscape, usually in penline and water colour. Sometimes I turn to oil or acrylic and then there is the occasional lurch into the abstract.”
Artist, illustrator and graphic designer, Michael was born in, and has mostly lived in and around Bristol, moving to Clevedon in 1981, then to Weston-s-Mare in 2006.
Educated at Bristol Technical School, he studied at West of England College of Art while apprenticed in the graphics studio of a major printing company, producing designs for chocolate cigar, cigarette, and other product packaging.
In 1985 he set up his own freelance business and latterly specialized in novelty tin printing designs for such as Harrods, the Savoy and Barclays Bank. This coincided with architectural illustration for clients like Wimpey, Barratts & Lovell Homes.
Michael has always painted in his ‘spare time’ and is an artist member of Bristol Savages.
Some of his linework is shown in “The Painter and The Poet”, which is on display at the Gallery and in which subjects and places local to Weston are depicted.
.
The first exhibition is showing the inspiring and unique work of 22 local artists – paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures – and will last until 6th August. It is open everyday from 11 – 5pm except Sundays. The Gallery is situated above Digital Photo Studio, 3 Locking Rd Weston-s-Mare BS23 3BY (opposite Tesco). For more information about the Gallery contact Kirsten Hemingway
Email: khemingway@hemingwaycorp.com or telephone 01934 626616
Digital Photo Studio can scan your favourite photographs and put them on to a disk for you ready for use on line or in any digital media
.
For those of you interested in a bit of history the building was originally Locking Road Methodist Church
With thanks to Cllr John Crockford-Hawley for the image above.
.
Artist Profile
MICHAEL RUMMINGS
Currently showing at The Gallery in Weston-s-Mare
3 Locking Rd, BS23 3BY
Open daily 11–5pm except Sundays
T: 01934 627809
M: 07866621338
E: gillrummings@talktalk.net
“My favourite thing is sketching in situ, portraying townscape or landscape, usually in penline and water colour. Sometimes I turn to oil or acrylic and then there is the occasional lurch into the abstract.”
Artist, illustrator and graphic designer, Michael was born in, and has mostly lived in and around Bristol, moving to Clevedon in 1981, then to Weston-s-Mare in 2006.
Educated at Bristol Technical School, he studied at West of England College of Art while apprenticed in the graphics studio of a major printing company, producing designs for chocolate cigar, cigarette, and other product packaging.
In 1985 he set up his own freelance business and latterly specialized in novelty tin printing designs for such as Harrods, the Savoy and Barclays Bank. This coincided with architectural illustration for clients like Wimpey, Barratts & Lovell Homes.
Michael has always painted in his ‘spare time’ and is an artist member of Bristol Savages.
Some of his linework is shown in “The Painter and The Poet”, which is on display at the Gallery and in which subjects and places local to Weston are depicted.
.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Awards for Mentoring
Best Mentor and Mentee rewarded for their efforts
Last year WOW teamed up with Hemingway Corporation and Mint Hotel and took it upon ourselves to help twenty-one young female entrepreneurs start their business lives. We did this by providing them with mentors to guide them and give advice. In effect we kick started twenty-one new businesses that day
The top Mentor and Mentee from the WOW Women’s Enterprise Day lunch were awarded free flights on Air South West this week.
John Murphy and Mhari Threfell beat off the competition to claim the top prize. Mhari said of John “Although my idea may not be in the specific field of my mentor. He understood and had belief in me. As such he worked tirelessly on helping me develop connections, improve my networking skills and help to find out if my good idea could be transformed into a good business idea. My mentor helped me gain:
Advancement and specification of my idea through setting out life goals
Several new business ideas
£1000 for my specific idea from Shell Livewire, which I got after pitching it to a room of students and judges
PR and publicity for my idea
Useful contacts and connections with the Rotary Club for my charity and with scientists for my shampoo idea
Meetings with those who might be able to help me in the future.
All of these have been invaluable to me. I think my idea would have dropped by the wayside if it hadn't been for John. Indeed, due to my work commitments, I haven't gone as far as I would have liked with the idea, but without John's support would not have been confident enough to enter the Shell Livewire Grand ideas award, which I subsequently won! This has lead me on to have some great PR, particularly in Scotland”
Kirsten Hemingway of the Hemingway Corporation who supported and arrange the event and subsequent competition said “John and Mhari really took on the challenge with no through of the competition prize. They have been an exemplary example of what good mentoring can achieve for a new business.”
The prizes were awarded at the same hotel where the lunch was held last November although in the time since the competition was held the City Inn has changed to Mint Hotel. This competition was important to Annette West the Hotel’s Sales Director. She said “This was one of the first events I attended at the hotel and it was inspiring, it is great to see how the mentors and mentees have developed such productive relationships.
This year WOW and the Hemingway Corporation are planning to host another spectacular event for Women’s Enterprise day and look forward to your support for this important work.
!
Last year WOW teamed up with Hemingway Corporation and Mint Hotel and took it upon ourselves to help twenty-one young female entrepreneurs start their business lives. We did this by providing them with mentors to guide them and give advice. In effect we kick started twenty-one new businesses that day
The top Mentor and Mentee from the WOW Women’s Enterprise Day lunch were awarded free flights on Air South West this week.
John Murphy and Mhari Threfell beat off the competition to claim the top prize. Mhari said of John “Although my idea may not be in the specific field of my mentor. He understood and had belief in me. As such he worked tirelessly on helping me develop connections, improve my networking skills and help to find out if my good idea could be transformed into a good business idea. My mentor helped me gain:
Advancement and specification of my idea through setting out life goals
Several new business ideas
£1000 for my specific idea from Shell Livewire, which I got after pitching it to a room of students and judges
PR and publicity for my idea
Useful contacts and connections with the Rotary Club for my charity and with scientists for my shampoo idea
Meetings with those who might be able to help me in the future.
All of these have been invaluable to me. I think my idea would have dropped by the wayside if it hadn't been for John. Indeed, due to my work commitments, I haven't gone as far as I would have liked with the idea, but without John's support would not have been confident enough to enter the Shell Livewire Grand ideas award, which I subsequently won! This has lead me on to have some great PR, particularly in Scotland”
Kirsten Hemingway of the Hemingway Corporation who supported and arrange the event and subsequent competition said “John and Mhari really took on the challenge with no through of the competition prize. They have been an exemplary example of what good mentoring can achieve for a new business.”
The prizes were awarded at the same hotel where the lunch was held last November although in the time since the competition was held the City Inn has changed to Mint Hotel. This competition was important to Annette West the Hotel’s Sales Director. She said “This was one of the first events I attended at the hotel and it was inspiring, it is great to see how the mentors and mentees have developed such productive relationships.
This year WOW and the Hemingway Corporation are planning to host another spectacular event for Women’s Enterprise day and look forward to your support for this important work.
!
Monday, 25 April 2011
Big Events
The next big thing for our HIEC is to create a huge event in Bristol. We are bringing together over 10 specialist groups reforming different parts of the NHS. Some are from the NHSI and some are working within specialist charities.
Our event will hopefully include over 700 people - which is very scary as its on at the end of June. However, we are getting some great help from Event Brite and from the Chief Execs of every part of the service.
Our internal project is the Branding and describing what we are - any help appreciated so please get in touch and let us know what we are to you?
One of our team has come up with a great invention for technoloy implementaitons. Hence, we are looking for new customers who are implementing technology, if you know anyone let us know.
Our event will hopefully include over 700 people - which is very scary as its on at the end of June. However, we are getting some great help from Event Brite and from the Chief Execs of every part of the service.
Our internal project is the Branding and describing what we are - any help appreciated so please get in touch and let us know what we are to you?
One of our team has come up with a great invention for technoloy implementaitons. Hence, we are looking for new customers who are implementing technology, if you know anyone let us know.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
I did say we had been busy!
We also took on some new people in and have increased our network by another 7 excellent consultants. LifeWorklife has been great for us in terms of finding the right people and we have started to develop a programme around it for other companies. Hoping to have more news on that later.
In terms of the HIEC Information:
HIECS:
“We intend to enable providers of NHS services … to come together with partners in the higher education sector and industry to form Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs)”
Department of Health. NHS Next Stage Review: A High Quality Workforce. 30th June 2008
Successful bid for a HIEC in the South West December 2009
www.HIECSW.org.uk
If you are concerned about how the NHS works in the future then this is the place to get involved.
In terms of the HIEC Information:
HIECS:
“We intend to enable providers of NHS services … to come together with partners in the higher education sector and industry to form Health Innovation and Education Clusters (HIECs)”
Department of Health. NHS Next Stage Review: A High Quality Workforce. 30th June 2008
Successful bid for a HIEC in the South West December 2009
www.HIECSW.org.uk
If you are concerned about how the NHS works in the future then this is the place to get involved.
Big Rewards for front line innovation in the South West NHS
An event was held in Exeter last week to congratulate 29 new South West NHS innovators who were collectively awarded more than £1 million of funding from the Regional Innovation Fund. The event was organised by HIEC South West to support individual learning needs and to provide a place where the project leaders could collaborate and share resources. Each innovation had been created by members of front line staff across the South West NHS. A full spectrum of staff including nurses, doctors, surgeons and managers used their experience to create new ideas for better patient care.
Projects were given funding from £8,000 to £240,000 to use to implement their idea or explore it further. The Regional Innovation Fund was established to offer frontline health care staff the opportunity to turn their ideas for quality improvement into action. The projects will be supported by the Health Innovation and Education Cluster for the South West which is managed by a partnership across many health and education sector organisations.
Peta Foxall is one of the board members for the HIEC and the events key note speaker said “This event aims to celebrate the success of these innovators in getting their projects funded, we will support them to build their skills and confidence and they will become our advocates for innovation across our region and probably beyond.”
The winning projects were the top 29 from the 230 bids across the NHS Trusts in the region and highlight the commitment and dedication from NHS staff to continual improvements in patient care. The innovative bids were received against many priority areas including mental health, long term conditions, primary care, reducing health inequalities, learning disabilities and the adoption of proven technologies.
The event provided attendees with the knowledge and resources they will need to make sure their innovations catch on and become part of standard practice. Fiona Pickering of NHS Bournemouth and Poole said “The resources available to the attendees are staggering, every speaker has world class knowledge and experience in their subject and the HIEC is committed to providing the right level of support to ensure that every project is a success, every person is valued, every penny is well spent and everyone knows that these innovations are available.”
Projects were given funding from £8,000 to £240,000 to use to implement their idea or explore it further. The Regional Innovation Fund was established to offer frontline health care staff the opportunity to turn their ideas for quality improvement into action. The projects will be supported by the Health Innovation and Education Cluster for the South West which is managed by a partnership across many health and education sector organisations.
Peta Foxall is one of the board members for the HIEC and the events key note speaker said “This event aims to celebrate the success of these innovators in getting their projects funded, we will support them to build their skills and confidence and they will become our advocates for innovation across our region and probably beyond.”
The winning projects were the top 29 from the 230 bids across the NHS Trusts in the region and highlight the commitment and dedication from NHS staff to continual improvements in patient care. The innovative bids were received against many priority areas including mental health, long term conditions, primary care, reducing health inequalities, learning disabilities and the adoption of proven technologies.
The event provided attendees with the knowledge and resources they will need to make sure their innovations catch on and become part of standard practice. Fiona Pickering of NHS Bournemouth and Poole said “The resources available to the attendees are staggering, every speaker has world class knowledge and experience in their subject and the HIEC is committed to providing the right level of support to ensure that every project is a success, every person is valued, every penny is well spent and everyone knows that these innovations are available.”
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